Pagara’s ‘reluctance’ puts Shujaat’s United Muslim League bid in limbo

• Pir Rashidi says leader of new Muslim League to be decided on basis of political muscle, Musharraf could not be appointed head
• PML-Q’s Haleem Shaikh says leaguers will hear good news soon after Eidul Fitr as contacts had frozen for the moment owing to Pir Pagara’s departure for London
• Source says after Shujaat’s ‘bitter experience’ with Tahirul Qadri, he wanted to launch another effort to help form an alliance between three factions

It seems that the covert planning to launch a new chapter of Muslim League has crashed halfway as a cold shoulder by Pir Pagaro has put Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain’s efforts to form United Muslim League (UML) in limbo, Pakistan Today has learnt reliably.

A senior leader of Pakistan Muslim League (PML) told this scribe that Pir of Pagaro has a “valid claim” on the leadership of the new alliance, claiming that the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional (PML-F) was the “only potent political force” in the country.

“The cold shoulder by Pir Pagaro aims at sending a clear message to Shujaat and Musharraf that they have no political standing. The only political reality among the PML factions is PML-F which is fifth major political force in the parliament,” the source said.

Federal minister Pir Syed Sadaruddin Shah Rashidi told Pakistan Today that the leader of the new Muslim League was yet to be decided on the basis of political muscle and that Musharraf could not be appointed as the head of the new league.

“We will see once we sit together to discuss the new party affairs. Musharraf’s party is smallest among the PML factions. So should be his share in the new league. Shujaat should also get his party united in Punjab which is already in tatters,” he added.

He also referred to his statement in Hyderabad, saying that the forces who had weakened the Muslim League now wanted to strengthen it. He said all contentious matters would be decided after Eid when the matter would be discussed again.

On the other hand, the senior leaguer said that the efforts to form another chapter of Muslim League was a brainchild of Chaudhry Shujaat who wanted an alliance between PML-F, Pakistan Muslim League-Quaid (PML-Q) and Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf’s All Pakistan Muslim League (APML).

“However, after claim by Pir Pagaro, Shujaat looks disheartened and has adopted a shallow posture. So is the case of General Musharraf,” the source added.

He said that Shujaat wanted Musharraf to be appointed head of the new alliance as it would “hint” that the military establishment was supporting this alliance. Moreover, he added that Musharraf was good at attracting media attention and his presence would also help attract international media.

“However, the alliance could not take off after the first meeting held in Karachi. In order to attract media attention, Shujaat got a news item printed in a major media outlet. This annoyed Pir Sibghatullah Shah Pagaro who failed this move by flying to London and is yet to return,” the source added.

The source said that after the bitter experience of Shujaat’s alliance with Dr Tahirul Qadri, the PML chief wanted to launch another effort to help form an alliance between the three factions.

“Chaudhry sahib knew that out of the three factions, only PML-F has considerable political strength,” the source said, adding that Pir Pagara was not in a mood to carry forward the alliance until and unless he gets a clear nod from the military establishment.

“Shujaat knew that the key to invite Pir Pagara to the meeting lies with General Musharraf, who has a very good personal equation with Pir sahib. So the meeting was convened recently at the residence of General Musharraf and he was tasked to also invite Pagaro,” the source said, adding that during the meeting, the three discussed major prospects of an alliance or a party involving all the Muslim League factions.

“During the meeting, Musharraf said that an alliance would not be a practical option as the politics of alliances never succeeded in the country. He proposed that the three factions should be merged into a party which should then contact other leaguer factions and also merge them into the UML,” the source said.

The source added that Shujaat opposed the idea, saying that it would be difficult for all the faction heads to agree for a merger and they might insist on keeping their own identity intact. Referring to the merger of different factions into the PML-Q, Shujaat said that once the party was out of power, all factions would have remerged.

“We should start with an alliance and once all groups heads get together, it would be easy to form a new political party,” the source quoted Shujaat as telling the meeting. The source said that Shujaat also put a precondition that while going for an alliance, senior but controversial leaguers like Hamid Nasir Chattha, Humayon Akhtar Khan, Shaikh Rashid Ahmed and Ijazul Haq should be kept at bay.

“Shujaat said that since Shaikh Rashid had taken a position by forging an alliance with Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, Ijazul Haq was going to merge his party into the ruling PML-N. Moreover, Chattha and Humayon Akhtar had no political support and Haroon Akhtar had also joined Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet. So there was no point in inviting them to the new alliance,” the source quoted Shujaat.

Pir Pagara however showed no reservations and told the meeting that for the sake of federation, he was ready to leave the federal government and join the alliance or a new party as he was okay with what the alliance decides.

The source said that despite giving assurances in the meeting, Pir Pagaro failed the move by quietly leaving for London and since then he has not returned.

Another Muslim League leader based in Sindh told Pakistan Today that senior leaguers including Syed Ghous Ali Shah, Sardar Zulfiqar Khosa, Liaquat Jatoi, Arbab Ghulam Rahim and many others were making efforts to meet Pir Pagara for the past six months but were not entertained.

The source said that Ghous Ali Shah had also expressed reservations to the proposal to appoint Musharraf the new party head.

“Shah has conveyed to senior leaguers that Musharraf is not only unpopular among masses, he is very controversial among Balochistan and religious circles. So he believes that appointing Musharraf as head of new party would backfire,” the source added.

When contacted, PML-Q Sindh President Haleem Adil Shaikh said the leaguers would hear good news soon after Eid-ul-Fitr.

“I was a part of the meeting held in Karachi where the top leaders had met. However, Pir sahib did not offer any reservation during the meeting. Rather he expressed eagerness for an alliance or a party as he believes that saving the federation of Pakistan is more important than joining the cabinet. He said he will leave the federal government of leagues get united,” he maintained.

Asked what led to halting the efforts for an alliance, Shaikh said the sudden departure of Pir Sahib for London and the arrival of holy month of Ramzan had halted the contacts.

“But people would soon hear a good news as a meeting is going to be held soon after Eid. We will start with three factions of ML and later others would also join in,” he added.

Shaikh also confirmed reservations of his party against Chattha, Humayon, Ijaz and Shaikh Rashid, saying that Rashid was an ally of Imran Khan while Ijazul Haq would soon be a part of the PML-N cabinet.

“Most of the senior leaguers you mentioned have already decided to join one or the other party or group. Chaudhry Shujaat would also deal the matters with the likeminded group. We plan to welcome Salim Saifullah Khan but there are no chances of Humayon Akhtar as his brother has joined Nawaz Sharif’s cabinet,” he added.